Megami Tensei II Playthrough — The Devil's Luck

Source: Digital Devil Story Megami Tensei II Messiah Project 2036

Last updated: 2023-05-14
Author: Raindare

Hello, this is raindare.

I'm a big fan of Megami Tensei II, the legendary Famicom title that started the Shin Megami Tensei series. I'm a big enough fan, in fact, that I assembled a romhack for it that changes the gameplay, though not the story.

Given that I've gotten said romhack to a point where I'm satisfied with how it works, I figure I have a great opportunity to complete a screenshot playthrough of it right here on Juraku Bookstore.

As an added bonus, I'll be able to go through the game's original story and even discuss how its mechanics are intended to be, since the changes made by my hack are not so significant that they make the core gameplay unrecognizable.

If you're not interested in the nitty-gritty, feel free to skip the next screenshot.

Here are the terms of the playthrough:

1. I will be playing through using Cathedral of Darkness 0.6, a romhack that changes what demons are available to the player and how fusion works.
2. I will only be using EVIL demons in my party. In Megami Tensei II, demons have three alignments: GOOD, NEUTRAL, and EVIL. Normally, the player cannot make EVIL demons their allies at all, but in Cathedral of Darkness, this is no longer the case. There is at least one small exception to this rule, but I will still never use an EVIL demon in battle.
3. I will invest all of my characters' stat points first into Luck, then into Agility. If I make it far enough with this build, which should happen around level 53, I can start investing in other stats.

The first two requirements go hand in hand, but the last requirement is obviously the odd one out.

One reason I'm doing it is to add a little extra challenge. The player can normally rely on the human characters to provide powerful attacks and magic. It's pretty optimal to only increase Intelligence on the secondary protagonists, and you can get away with only Strength on the main character too. By investing purely in secondary stats, I deprive myself of that option.

Another reason I'm doing it is because Luck is better than it's made out to be in many other MegaTen titles. In Nocturne, Luck virtually does nothing. Here, it actually affects HP (at a much lesser rate than Vitality), how fast you learn spells (at a much lesser rate than Intelligence), how easily you can flee battle, how often you get critical hits, and how often items drop. It genuinely is a well-rounded stat, even if it's not the best to increase.

The last is that I want to see if I can trigger a deathblow naturally. There are two types of critical hits in Megami Tensei: normal critical hits, and deathblows. Deathblows have a satisfying noise and send the target sprite flying halfway across the screen. The problem is, I don't remember ever seeing one in multiple playthroughs of the game. But if there were any way to get one, it would be by increasing my odds of critical hits as much as possible.